The Last Knight of Cybertron
by lPriime
Summary: "Optimus Prime has left us." What happens when our greatest hero turns into our greatest threat? When Dark Forces awaken after eons of dormancy? The fate of two species will hang in the balance. This marks the end of everything we hold dear. Two worlds will collide; only one survives. Will it be ours?
1. Prologue

_**A/N: So, this is gonna be my second story on this site. After watching**_ **The Last Knight** ** _in theaters, I felt disappointed. It wasn't what I was expecting. So much more could have been done. There was barely any Prime in the movie, and not enough of his rouge streak in it. So, I decided to start a story based on it, but with more details and more explanations. Oh, and better fights. More fights. Less humans. I want to try to do my best to make a story of what_ The Last Knight _should have been._**

 _ **Also, warning, major spoilers for the movie.**_

 _ **So, read on. Leave a review/follow/favorite if you enjoyed!**_

…

 _ **England—Dark Ages**_

The sound of battle echoed through the surrounding land. Steel upon steel. Wood against wood. Flames burned as men were cut down in waves. Blood soaked the ground. Brave knights fought to push back a barbaric threat… but they were losing.

"Where is the bloody wizard?" A dark-skinned knight asked from his place upon his horse. The worry for the fate of his people was ever apparent in his voice. "Without his help, the battle is surely lost."

A knight to his left looked over to him. The man radiated power, evident even in his armor. For he was a king. One that would become a legend.

"Do not worry, Lancelot," Arthur assured his friend and fellow knight of the Round Table. He looked back out to the carnage that was taking place below. "Merlin will be here soon."

Another knight did not think so as he scoffed at the statement. "That drunkard? Ha! He's no wizard. We'll get no help from him." He too looked at the carnage below. "We need to retreat. The battle is lost. Let us live to fight another day."

"No!" Arthur yelled, his authority resonating through the air as he dismounted his horse and drew his sword. In one swift motion, the legendary king of Camelot drove his blade into the dirt. "Without sacrifice, there can be no victory. Merlin will be here."

Even as Arthur said the words, he did not believe them as he looked upon the battlefield. Scores of men, men who pledged themselves to him, died. The king did not believe they could win in their current state. Merlin was their only hope now, but if they were to lose this fight, Arthur would not run and hide.

"Knights!" He called, raising his sword to the sky. Another wave of attackers were descending on his men below. As he climbed on to his horse, "With me! For freedom! For Camelot!"

"For Camelot!" His knights bellowed back.

"Onward!"

Arthur led his knight down the muddy hill, hooves pounding on the ground as the sound of battle grew stronger. Each knight tightened their grips on their swords the closer they got. Corpses, swords, broken wagons increased in frequency the more they pushed down into what could potentially be their end.

They met the opposition with determined ferocity. Swords sliced through men, pierced flesh, and brought enemies down. Arthur jumped from his horse, engaging his foes on level ground. Screams and shout echoed all around the king now. Until he hear something that did not sound like that of man. Whatever it was was loud and caught the attention of everyone on the battlefield. When Arthur located the approaching source, he marveled.

A dragon, an actual dragon, was swooping down towards the enemy lines. The beast slammed into the ground and took several foes with it. It then began decimating Arthur's opponents. Fire, tail, and claws tore through them with such ease that is was terrifying. And when the enemy began to flee, Arthur couldn't help but raise his sword into the air and let out a victory cry. It was quickly infectious among his knights.

…

"Merlin," Arthur said as he approached the bearded wizard. "On behalf of Camelot and all under its flag, I want to personally thank you. You saved the kingdom. You are in our debt."

The old wizard shook his head. "Oh no, my friend, you shouldn't be thanking me. You should be thanking them." He pointed with his metal staff at the metal dragon that sat off to the side. "It's alright. You can show them who you are."

To say Arthur was shocked at what happened next would be an understatement. The dragon's body began to shift and change. Metal scraping on metal. Then, it started to break apart. Each part shifted as well until twelve towering titans made of metal stood before them. Each of them resembled a knight.

Merlin smiled. "My king, allow me to introduce my friends: the Knights of Cybertron."

Arthur's jaw was hung low. "They are not of this world, are they?"

"No, they are not."

 _ **1600 years later**_ _ **—**_ _ **Present Day**_

It has been said that some mysteries of the universe were never meant to be solved. But who were are and why we exist are not among those mysteries. Some brave souls have ventured to distance places in search of their purpose… even to the black void of space.

In that black, quiet void, one soul floats in a seemingly random direction while on its quest to find its purpose in the universe. Coming from it was a static-filled message played on a loop

" _I am Opt… Prime, and this message is to my Cre… tors. Leave pla… Earth alone, because I'm… for you._ "

Optimus Prime had left his friends to search for those who made him and to demand answers. Now he floats through the stars in a powered down state. Three years in space had made him weaker. To preserve energy for the eventual confrontation with his Creators, Prime entered into a stasis lock. All the Knight could do now was wait until he made contact… however long that may be.

 _ **3 Years Prior**_ _ **—**_ _ **Earth**_

Galvatron marched through the sands of the Mumbai Desert. He was disgusted at his form. A human made form. What he would not do to be returned to his former glory, to become Megatron again. But Prime had to take that away. His own _brother_ by choice. Each and every time.

The reincarnated Decepticon leader snarled at that thought. All his plans would fall through at the very end. He needed something to ensure victory no matter what. But at this point, as long as he could rid the universe of this dust ball he now walked on and return to a revitalized Cybertron, he would be content.

Suddenly, Galvatron caught a glint from a massive sand dune. Metal poking through the surface. Seeing as all he had to do was walk this pathetic planet, he went to investigate.

Approaching the object, he dusted it off. What he discovered was a large and jagged end to… something. The Decepticon surmised that perhaps it was the nose of a ship. A Cybertronian ship. But he knew of nothing on Earth that was like this. It was not one of his scouts he sent long ago. So what was it?

To his surprise, the ground beneath him collapsed. Galvatron found himself falling down a tunnel that was barely large enough to fit him. It was nearly a whole minute before the tunnel ended and he was sent falling forty feet to solid surface below. He slammed into a metal ground with a groan.

Standing up, he looked around. "By the Pit… what is this place?" What he saw was the inside of a curved structure. A massive structure. A black metal that resonated… darkness and death and evil made up everything around him in a spider-web of beams criss-crossing this way and that way. Even he did not like the feel of this place.

A platform in the center of that floor, near where Galvatron landed, began to shift and transform. Galvatron leveled his weapon at it. He observed with caution as a form started to rise. After it fully stood, a Cybertronian double the height of his own looked down upon him. His jagged armor made him look frightening. Pointed shoulders, feet, claws, and horns on the top of his head made the individual look to what humans may call "the Devil".

"Who are you?" Galvatron demanded, powering up his weapon as a clear threat.

The individual merely tilted its head in amusement. And when he spoke, his rumbling voice made the air vibrate. " **You should not speak to your infinite betters,** _ **Galvatron**_ **.** " He threw his name out like an insult.

Galvatron scowled. "How do you know who I am?" Not many did at present. He recently came came back to life, after all.

" **I know a great many things, for I am older than most stars in the universe.** **A better question would be this: do you know who** _ **I**_ **am?** "

"No," Galvatron answered bluntly.

The individual sneered. " **Then I suppose I should educate the lesser beings. I am Unicron.** "

Galvatron subconsciously took a step back. "Unicron, the Chaos Bringer? Impossible!"

" **I decide what is and isn't possible! I am Unicron, and I have a proposal for you.** "

Galvatron didn't answer to that immediately. He was trying to wrap his mind around the idea that he was speaking to _Unicron_ on _Earth_. It couldn't be possible. The Chaos Bringer was defeated eons ago, his carcass thrown into a star. Finally, Galvatron spoke.

"What kind of… proposal?"

Unicron smirked. " **I know what you want. You want your former glory and home back. You want to be Megatron again, not some ghost possessing a machine made by parasites.** " The ancient titan began pacing around the Decepticon leader. " **You want Cybertron back. As you know, the inhabitants of that planet never were my allies, but I am willing to give both back to you and leave Cybertron alone if you help me.** "

"And what would Unicron need that would require my help?"

" **What you see before you is only a drone. A small avatar of what I could be. My true form is locked in stasis, surrounded by the dirt they call Earth. I cannot go and accomplish the tasks necessary to free myself from this prison. I need a… h** **eralds** **. Be my h** **erald** **,** _ **Megatron.**_ "

Galvatron weighed his options… and they were all in his favor. He regains his former glory and home, and Earth…

"What will happen to Earth?"

" **Ripped from the inside, out, hopefully.** "

Galvatron liked the proposal. The thought that he could become his older self and have Earth eviscerated was a grand one. "I accept. I will be your herald."

" **You haven't even heard my terms.** "

"I can reclaim my former self and my homeworld. Nothing you set before me will be out of reach from my grasp after that is done."

" **That is pleasing to hear. But my tasks are simple: bring me the Autobot Matrix of Leadership and the Staff of Quintessa.** "

That made Galvatron blink. "Quintessa? The builder?"

" **The Deceiver. Her Staff is the major component to free me and giving life back to your planet.** "

"And the Matrix; Optimus Prime has it, and he has left Earth in search of his Creators."

Unicron grinned. " **Perfect. Time of waiting would be no trifle. I would wait an eternity longer if needed. Knowing Quintessa, she would want to do things quickly as possible. When Prime returns, he'll lead us to the Staff and the Matrix at once.** "

Galvatron grinned as well. "And I get to rid myself of Optimus. It's almost too perfect. Now, give me back my lost glory."

Unicron nodded. He raised his hands and tendrils of purple lightning shoot out and collide with Galvatron. The Decepticon leader fell onto one knee as he shouted out in pain. His body spasmed as pieces of metal lifted up from the ground and circled around him. Unicron took another step forward, intensifying the lightning coursing through Galvatron. It went on for ten more minutes. In that time, most of Galvatron's body was replaced and reformatted. He was completely changed. When it was done, Unicron ceased the lightning and stood back.

" **Rise... Megatron.** "

With his body still smoldering, the newly rebuild Megatron rose to his feet. His new form resembled that of a barbaric gladiator. Fusion cannon on his right arm. Large bladed melee weapon attached to his back. The right side of his face held a red coloration, easily distinguishable from the rest of his body. A mark Unicron gave to indicate him as his herald… his servant.

" **Go now, Megatron. Wait for Prime's return to this planet. Build up a force until then.** "

Megatron bowed. "I will not fail you." The Decepticon leader transformed, a Cybertronian jet mode, and soared through the tunnel he fell down.

As Megatron left, Unicron commented, " **I would hope so… your life depends on it.** "

Above the ground soaring through the skies, the newly reborn Megatron sent out a simple message across the globe.

" _Decepticons! I have returned!"_ The message contained a packet of coordinates of where the Decepticon leader planned to set up a base of operations.


	2. Chapter 1 Talisman

_**A/N: Second chapter of this! Yay! Bit of a warning, it may seem a bit boring because I followed the movie for most, but I have done some changes to some scenes.**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

...

 _ **Earth—Present Day**_

"Bee, I'm closing in on the bot now," Cade Yeager said through a radio as he drove a modified pick-up truck through a demolished section of Chicago, having been too active of an area after the Battle of Chicago nearly eight years before too rebuild. A 'Transformer No-Go Zone' the TRF(Transformer Reaction Force) dubbed areas like this. The had automated mechs guarding the area. Things looked like that thing from that one stealth game. It was going to bother the inventor. He knew the name of the game, but it escaped him.

Cade shook his head. Info about a video game was irrelevant at the moment. Right now, he had to find this bot that had crash-landed. With more and more bots coming each day, and most governments of the world banning the aliens after the Hong Kong incident and setting up their own TRF branches, Cade and the remaining Autobots after Optimus made it a mission to try to save as many as possible. They had nowhere else to go. Their home was gone, dead. Having been ravaged by war eons ago.

Turning a corner, Cade saw the downed ship. He also spotted two of TRF's mechs aiming at a group of kids that apparently wanted to see a Transformer. They were in danger. Those damn things word fire on them the moment they made any rapid movements. When he went to radio Bumblebee for assistance, he heard a shout followed by a little girl atop a ruined train car throwing some bottles through the air. Cade watched as one dumb mech followed the bottles to his buddy and fired. As the kids ran off, led by the girl, he radioed Bumblebee.

"Bee, we got an issue. Four or five kids, and they just pissed off those TRF bots. Circle around the other side, through the parking garage. I'mma go after the kids."

The inventor put his truck into drive and floored it. It wasn't hard to follow them. All he had to do was listen to the shouting and machine gun fire. A pile of rubble made a direct path impassable. Taking a roundabout detour, he heard the distinctive sound a fighter jet and the scream of a missile flying through the air before hitting a target with an echoing boom. Cade feared the worst as he scrambled for his radio to contact his Autobot friend.

"Shit! Bee did you see what they just hit?"

The other end of the radio crackled to life, and the Autobot scout replied. " _A harmless_ _bot_ _that was protecting the kids._ "

"Damn it!"

Cade whirled around a corner and saw the sight of five kids, the girl kneeling and crying in front of a dying bot. Down the road, came another TRF mech. He pulled up next to the kids and hopped out, grabbing a human-sized Cybertronian gun from the back and a stun grenade. He tossed the grenade first, disorienting the mech. Immediately after, he aimed and fired once, twice, three times at the mech. While the mech didn't go down, Cade had no need to fire anymore. The wall of the parking garage next to the mech exploded outward and out came Bumblebee. He jumped on the mech, breaking off the mounted machine gun before delivering two shots from his arm cannon. The scout leaped off with a rolled as the mech exploded in a shower of metal and flames.

" _I hate people messing with me!_ "

"No, Canopy…" The little girl cried, tears making waving streaks down her dust covered face. "Wake up. You gotta wake up!"

Cade hurried over and pulled the girl away. "Come on, it's over."

"No, I can fix him!" the girl pleaded.

Cade pulled again. "No one can fix him. He's dead. Hey! Look at me!" The girl did so between sobs. "Would he want you to die too? Let's go. Now."

He had piled all the kids into the truck and drove out of there at top speed. Cade made his way to the fence. He was gonna make sure the kids left this place. It was too dangerous here for them. To his surprise, the girl sobered up quickly by the time the got to the fence.

"Hey," one of the kids said as he gestured for them to get out of the truck. "You're that guy. You're like some sort of legend."

"Some legend," the girl remarked.

A third kid stopped Cade and said, "You know they have a really big reward for you."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Well, do you you want to get punched in the face really hard?" With that, Cade ushered the rest of the kids through the whole in the fence.

The girl was the last one through. She pause a brief moment to say, "See ya around… legend," before calling for her little blue bot friend.

With the kids out of harms way, Cade hopped back in his truck and drove back to the downed ship. Reaching the ship, he pulled over, grabbing a set of explosive charges and climbing up the angled ship. Two charges were set in such a position that it would open up the cabin yet not harm the bot inside. After detonating the charges, Cade climbed back up to see an older looking bot with massive leak of Energon from his lower chest area.

The bot groans and struggled in place.

"Whoa, whoa. Easy there," Cade calmly said. "I'm just trying to help." He climbed in the cabin and began inspecting the wound. It was deep. The bot had lost a lot of Energon already. It wasn't looking good. When the inventor pressed a large rag onto the wound, the bot groaned some more. "You're hurt really bad, okay?"

"Protect," the bot struggled to get out, "protect from Quin… Quinte…"

Sighing, Cade looked down. "I'm sorry." There wasn't anything he could do for the bot.

A section of the bot's chest opened up and he reached inside. In his palm, he held a metallic talisman with old runes on it. "The talisman will protect you…"

"You don't owe me anything. You keep it," Cade said. The bot urged him to take it. "I can't."

Just then, the bot's optics flickered before going out and the rest of his body went limp as well. Cade sighed before kicking the inside of the cabin in frustration. Not only did one bot died today; two did. Both were dead, and he couldn't save them. He climbed out and down, beginning his walk back to his truck.

"He didn't make it, Bee," Cade said into his radio. "I'm coming out solo on this one," then to himself, "This is turning into one shitty ass day."

As Cade walked on, he felt eyes on him. Multiple eyes. It was made even more apparent by the three green laser dots hovering over his heart. With a mental curse, he slow raised his hands and set the radio and the backpack he had down slowly while raising his hands into the air. Several armed men and vehicles began to surround him. Cade took it as his cue to slowly get on his knees and placed his hands behind his head as the soldiers closed in on him.

A man, the TRF commander known as Santos, walked around and stood in front of him. "So, help yourself out here," he said. "Where are the others, the ones you're hiding?"

Cade looked Santos dead in the eyes. "I don't sell out friends."

That earned him a scoff. "Friends? This is an invasion! One day we wake up, and they're in charge."

"You see anybody in charge? They just keep falling out of the sky. Something's coming, and you can't shoot your way out of it."

Before anyone could speak, the sound of a modified muscle car came roaring towards the group. Cade turned to see his ally Bumblebee driving towards them.

The gunner of one of the TRF SUVs aimed the machine gun he manned and began firing on the Autobot. Bumblebee swerved out of the way of the bullets before transforming and rolling forward towards the SUV.

Bumblebee slammed into the vehicle, knocking it over with a groan of metal. Arming his cannon, Bumblebee placed the barrel to the ground and fired. A non-lethal pulse blast was sent out in all directions. It knocked over most of the TRF soldiers in the process. Bee fired at a second SUV, the pulse slamming into and flipping once. He swatted away three TRF that began to get up before taking out the third SUV. Another pulse blast at the ground knocked down more TRF. Cade took the chaos and sucker-punched Santos in the face. Before anyone could react, Bee pinned the TRF commander to the ground with his cannon.

" _I'll burn you so bad, you'll wish you died as a child_ ," Bumblebee threatened him.

"Shoot him," Santos shouted.

Cade, having now picked up his own gun, said, "You'll be dead before I hit the ground."

"Shoot him! Take the shot! Shoot!"

"Don't do it, Bee!" A new voice called out. From another TRF vehicle came Colonel William Lennox, former NEST operative. Former ally of the Autobots. "Hold your fire. Hold it. You. Drop it."

Without looking at him, Cade replied with, "I ain't droppin' shit."

Lennox took a breath and looked up to Bumblebee. "Hey, the military doesn't want it this way." Bee turned his cannon towards him. "You gotta believe that. It's a new world order now, and these guys are calling the shots."

Cade snapped his head towards Lennox. "All they want is a home, and you know it. You push them and they push right back." Bee made it a point to aim back at Santos, who struggled in a frustrated manner. He clearly didn't like knowing the Autobot easily took down him and his men.

A loud rumbling of metal drew the attention of some as the Autobot commando Hound rolled up and to the little meet-and-greet with his mini-gun primed spinning. "Alright, fellas. I love showing up to a gun fight. This round mound is gonna mow you down. Translation: sayonara, suckers."

Taking a glance around, Cade said, "Me and my crew are walking out of here. Let's go. They're not gonna touch us."

Cade began walking away. Lennox radioed in a negative for Decepticon targets while Santos begrudgingly told his men to stand down.

"You sure you don't wanna shoot?" Hound taunted, tapping his chest. "I'm a big ol' target. Wusses."

Walking away, Bee made chicken noises at the soldiers. The group began making their way out of the No-Go Zone and back to South Dakota… but not before a TRF sniper shot a tracker into the spoiler of Bee's alt-mode.

 _ **Several hours later**_

A custom law enforcement 2016 Ford Mustang Saleen drifted around a corner before stopping, lights flashing and siren blaring. Transforming, the Decepticon enforcer Barricade lumbered forward into a delivery area of an old factory. He activated a high-powered light on his shoulder as he stepped in, scanning it over the darkened area.

"My lord," he said.

Sitting upon the wreckage of an old and burned out pile of cars was Megatron himself, using the pile as a makeshift throne. The Decepticon leader shielded his optics from Barricade's light with his hand as he scowled.

"Get that out of my face," he ordered. After Barricade did so, he continued. "Report. Were the rumors true? Did the Knight possess a talisman?"

"Yes, my lord. Right before expiring, he gave it to a human male. I could not retrieve it. There was too many TRF in the area."

Megatron rose to his feet and grasped Barricade by the throat, pinning him against a wall. "I do not care about the TRF! You let the talisman escape! It could hold the means to lead us to the Staff."

Barricade groaned under the pressure being applied to his throat. "Lord Megatron… I know how we can be led to it."

The Decepticon leader's glare lessened as he dropped his lackey. "Speak. Quickly."

From a hidden compartment in his arm, Barricade grabbed a truck door and tossed it to the ground at his master's feet. "The TRF."

Megatron looked to the door then to Barricade. A malicious smirk grew on his face. The human military group placed a tracker on the Autobots. "Yes." Then he laughed. "Send out a call to Swindle and Vortex. Time to assemble a crew."

…

 _ **Cybertron Orbit**_

" _Optimus Prime… re-entry… Cybertron…"_

He awoke from stasis to find himself being pulled towards a planet. Pulling the shield from his back, he used to protect himself as he made landing on the planet's surface. Slamming into solid ground at terminal velocity can hurt even a Prime without a means to protect oneself. After years away

A trench was carved into the ground upon contact with the surface. He regained his senses slowly, moaning in pain as he began to move his stiffened body and look around. He wished he hadn't looked up. He wished he had kept his optics closed What he saw around him was something out of a hellish nightmare. It was enough to send a pang of sadness and hopelessness through his Spark. Even rising to his feet, he could not help but stare around in shock.

"My world…," Optimus Prime muttered. "What has happened to my world?"

" _Your world is dying, Optimus Prime_ ," a feminine voice echoed from within the entrance to some kind of chamber directly ahead.

Prime jerked his head to look inside before marching in with a burning determination. He suspected who was inside. The one who brought him here. His Creator. Upon entry to the chamber revealed it to be much larger than anticipated. In the center were two massive statues of Cybertronian knights kneeling with their swords in front of them. Between those giant swords was a floating being.

"I've been waiting for you, Optimus," the female being said. "Come meet Your Maker."

Prime narrowed his optics as he got closer. "You are my… creator?"

She opened her eyes to reveal two blue optics. "I am Quintessa, the Prime of Life."

With roar of anger, Optimus began to approach at a faster pace. "What have you done to my home?!" He pulled his sword off of his back and was ready to swing when Quintessa turned around and hit him with a blue pulse of energy. The Prime was sent rolling backwards, using his sword to halt his slide across the ground.

"You dare raise a weapon to your god?!" Quintessa roared. "Infernocus! Teach Optimus what happens to those who threaten me."

A large and horned bot lumbered from the shadows. It let out a roar that invited anyone to try and test it. It's armor was jagged and angular. Its aura gave off a sense of evil and dread. It stood nearly doubled Optimus' height and showed of sharp claws.. Red piercing optics glared at the Prime as he rose to his feet and angled his sword in ready to attack pose.

"Do you know _who_ _I am_?" Optimus demanded before snapping his battle mask into place.

…

 _ **A/N: The end there was a bit different from the movie, huh? Prime just doesn't get instantly chained up. That's too boring. Instead, I set up a fight between Infernocus and Prime! Also, you may have picked out that I didn't have Bumblebee do that disassemble thing he did in the movie. While it looked cool, it just doesn't seem logical.**_

 _ **Anyway, if you enjoyed, leave a review. Maybe a follow. Maybe a favorite as well. Next chapter is gonna be a fight between Quintessa's guard dog and the last of the Primes.**_


	3. Chapter 2 Torture

_**A/N: Chapter 3 is here! And so is the fight between Infernocus and Optimus Prime.**_

 _ **I would like to thank those who followed/favorited/reviewed. Those really do give me more motivation to write more. Oh, and to the individual who reviewed under the name**_ **Ashley:** _ **Bayverse Prime is one of my favorites as well. Probably tied with**_ **Transformers Prime** _ **Optimus.**_

 _ **Anyway, here's the next chapter; filled with fighting, pain, Prime, robots, and… yeah!**_

 _ **Enjoy!**_

 _ **...**_

"Do you know _who I am?_ "

The black-horned menace roared, red optics burning with barely contained savagery. And then it charged.

Optimus set his feet and prepared. Infernocus was an arms reach away when Optimus ducked under its arm and spun. His sword grazed the side of the towering mech, chipping off bits of metal plating. Infernocus let of a guttural groan of pain as a thin trail of blue Energon began leaking out of the wound.

He swung his arm backwards in a wild attack. Prime jumped out of the way of the massive limb. He held his sword at his side and rushed forward. Sword pierced metal nearly up to the hilt. Optimus used it as a handhold and climbed the back of Infernocus as it tried to swat him off. Freeing his sword, Prime plunged it through the head of his opponent. The chamber shook as the monstrosity fell to its knees. The Prime leaped off and landed in a roll.

Blue optics turned their attention to the floating form of Quintessa. "Now for you." Optimus marched around the fallen form of Infernocus.

Quintessa, unexpectedly to Prime, smirked. "Is that what you believe?"

A sound of shifting metal reached them both. Immediately after, Prime yelled out in more surprise than pain as a small clawed hand ripped into the lower right of his back. He looked down to see what looked to be a smaller, simpler version of Infernocus glaring up at him. Optimus reared back his elbow and slammed into the face of the attacker. It was knocked to the ground and impaled through the Spark by Prime's sword.

Optimus stood ready as several other mechs like the one he just offlined surrounded him; the body of Infernocus nowhere to be seen.

"May I introduce to you the Infernocons, Optimus Prime," Quintessa said with a smugness in her voice.

He watched them carefully as they all circled around him, five in total now. Prime had not expected Infernocus to be a combiner, but it made more sense due to its size. Now, he had more of a challenge.

The first one to leap at him was to his left. He sliced the Infernocon in half at the hip before driving his sword into its head. Prime spun on his heel, analyzing each remaining Infernocon, sword held at the ready.

A second pounced at him then, arm transforming into a jagged sword. Prime deflected one strike and went to counter-attack, but the Infernocon rolled out of the way. Before Optimus could attempt to take it out, a set of claws torn down his left arm. The third Infernocon gained Prime's sword through its chest. As its optics faded to black, Optimus ripped his sword free. Two more remained.

Making a quick decision, Prime threw his sword at one of the last Infernocons. The Knightly blade entered the neck of Quintessa's beast, ending it. As its body collapsed, Optimus transformed his arm into a cannon and took aim at the last one. A shot torn through its right shoulder, severing the entire arm. The second shot blew half of the Infernocon's head to tiny metal bits. A third, and final shot, snuffed its Spark.

So, there stood Optimus Prime, standing amongst the graying frames of the Infernocons, glared up at his Creator. Then his optics set on his sword, still within the neck of one of the 'Cons. He walked up and pulled his blade free. Now was time to end his Creator. She was evil. Evil destroyed Cybertron, and she had deformed his homeworld. He was going to end her to ensure no one would ever be threatened or harmed by her.

As he got closer, Quintessa began clapping slowly. "Well done, Optimus Prime. Infernocus was made to be one of the most fearsome of my creations. And you defeated him. You are everything that I remembered."

Optimus scowled. "You defiled my world! Put my friends in danger! I'll kill you!" He raised his sword to end Quintessa in one clean swing.

Then Quintessa made a gesture.

A chain launched from the floor and latched onto his sword arm. Prime lost his grip on his sword as the chain became taut. He tried to lash out with his free arm, but that was caught in a chain as well. Two more chains pierced just below his neck and pulled him to his knees. When Prime tried to struggle, an electric shock was sent through each chain.

Prime's body slacked briefly as he vented hard. Then he lifted his head to look as Quintessa. She smiled… that quickly turned into a sneer. She lift her hand, and a beam of blue energy shot out. Without getting electrocuted again, Optimus was not able to see what was happening behind him. Then he heard a guttural groan from behind. A massive black hand grabbed his head and forced him to look at Quintessa.

"Your war doomed Cybertron!" She said.

Prime received a hard kick to his back from the newly revived Infernocus. "Megatron started the war!"

Quintessa grabbed her creation's chin and jerked his head up more, surprising the Prime with her strength to do so for a being much smaller than himself.. "You destroyed your world, you fool! My greatest creation… and you're going to help me fix it, or the race of Transformers will die forever."

"I'll never help you," Prime replied.

That earned him a backhanded slap from her. Prime groaned in pain as he felt a burning sensation spread along the left side of his head. A dull red coloration had formed. A mark to show he was owned by her, but he still wasn't fully hers.

"I made you. You are mine to command," Quintessa said in a silky voice.

Prime set his face in defiance. "Never. As I told your bounty hunter, I am slave to no one."

Quintessa floated back, putting space between her and Optimus. "We shall see about that." A prolonged electric shock was sent through Prime's body. "If you won't obey me willingly, I supposed I must break you."

"You can try…"

Quintessa let out a light scoff. "Oh, I will."

 _ **Earth—South Dakota**_

Cade Yeager had finally returned to his hideout—a junkyard on an Indian reserve. There wasn't much else he could do. He was wanted by most governments of the world for assisting the Cybertronians that have crash landed on his homeworld. The good ones, at least.

Now, he stood outside his home and stared up at the tiny dots in the coming night sky. Cade looked for the brightest star he could see and remembered words once spoken to him:

" _Cade Yeager, I do not know. But when you look to the stars, think of one of them… as my soul._ "

"I miss ya, Prime," he said softly to the star. "I hope you're okay. It has been a while since you left. We could use you back here, though. It has been chaos lately." He chuckled. "I'm surprised the 'Bots haven't beat each other to scrap yet."

"Do you always talk to yourself?"

Cade nearly jumped in surprise at the voice of a little girl. He looked and saw the girl and her bot from the Chicago No-Go Zone. He ran a hand down his face.

"Oh, no. You can't be here. You gotta go. I got enough strays as it is," he said to her.

The girl scrunched up her face. "I'm not a stray. I'm useful. I can fix shit, better than anyone. And I have a name you know. It's Izabella with a 'Z'."

Cade walked past her and towards the old car mechanic building. "I don't care if it's 'Z', an emoji, or a dollar sign. This is no place for…," he sighed. "Just go home. Please."

Izabella stopped in her tracks. "I ain't gotta home. And they…," her voiced cracked. "They killed the last person I called family. So, no. I'm not going. I'm gonna stay, and I'm gonna fight them!"

"Them? You can't fight them. That have limitless funds, the entire backing of the world. You can't fight them, and you're just a kid." He turned and walked away towards the ladder that led to the roof of the building where he had set up a few chairs to relax on, but he heard the sound of small feet trailing behind. "Why are you still following me?"

He climbed the ladder and hoped that would deter the girl. It did not. She followed right behind. Two lawn chairs and a table with an umbrella sat off to the side. Cade sat down on one of the chairs as Izabella looked on what was on top of the table. It were a two framed photos, one of a girl in her late teens and the other was the guy (looking younger than he was now) and a female looking older than the teen. Both were playing with a little girl with blonder hair. The teen had blonde hair and wore a white tank-top and jeans. The woman in the other photo had blonde hair as well. Mother? Was the teen his daughter?

The inventor, seeing that the girl wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, decided to broach a question. "What happened to your family?"

"You first," Izabella responded back.

"Wife passed away. Daughter went off to college; she might as well be on the moon."

"At least she's still here, bro."

Cade snapped his head to look at the girl. "If I go to visit her, we both get arrested. Is that bad enough, _bro_?" Then he looked away. "Your turn, unless you're too tough to share."

Izabella took a quick breath. "Decepticon fired a rocket." That gained Cade's attention. "Parents were home, I wasn't. There was no way I was going to foster."

He felt truly sorry for her. He really did. But she couldn't stay here. It was too dangerous for a little girl to be here. TRF, or something worse, could arrive at any time. "You gotta go. You can't be here. I'm sorry."

Izabella pursed her lips before nodding. "Fine." She began towards the ladder. "I'll bounce in the morning."

That surprised Cade at how easily. He called out before her head disappeared behind the edge of the roof. "Alright. Well, I got some frozen burritos back at my trailer and maybe some Smucker's in the fridge."

Just then, the girl poked her head up from the edge. "And I'll tell everyone where you are."

Cade rose to his feet and put his hands on his hips. "Am I seriously being blackmailed by a twelve year old?"

"Fourteen."

He rolled his eye. "You know, you're really missing out, because it's okay to be a kid, little J. Lo." She chuckled at that. "You think you're a badass, huh? Well tough guy, I got a pop quiz for you." He walked up to the edge of the roof and knelt down to get closer to her. "You got an in-line Energon leak on a Slant-Six. You gotta get it fixed. Autobot is about to bleed out. You got thirty seconds now. What are you gonna do?"

Izabella crossed her arms. "Alright, first of all, Transformers don't have a Slant-Six. It's a Chrysler engine from way back in ancient times."

"The late Sixties are not ancient times."

"Well, if I was fixing an Energon leak, I'd cauterize the artery and re-channel the central flow into the…," she started snapping her fingers with her eye closed as she held on to the ladder with her other hand. "Whatchamacallit… the tube…"

"The doohickey thing," Cade finished for her.

"That's it."

He nodded, impressed. "Not bad, kid. Watch your mouth."

She gave a little smirk before climbing down the rest of the ladder. A burrito sounded good right about now.

"Hey!" Izabella looked up to see Cade's head over the side of the roof. "While I was gone, a junker brought a new voice box for Bumblebee. Let's see if you're as good as you say tomorrow."

"Better than you!"

"Ha ha, very funny. I'm regretting this decision already."

 _ **Cybertron—Quintessa's Chamber**_

The sorceress had chained up Optimus in such a way that his arms were pinned to his torso. Infernocus pulled him along by the end of the chain. Quintessa led them to a large, engraved wall. In the center was what appeared to be a staff. On each side of the staff were six, knight-like figures cared into the wall.

"Have you heard of the Knight's of Cybertron, Prime?" She asked, staring at the wall.

Optimus examined the wall before answering. "Yes, in ancient texts in the Iacon Hall of Records."

"And what did the texts say about them?"

"The Knights were protectors of Cybertron. They were called upon during times of great strife, but some time after the war, they vanished. What about them?"

"The Knights were my creations. Originally, I built twelve. Then, I built five more. Of those five, four reached Knighthood. The fifth became a Prime. That was out of my control. The other sixteen betrayed me. They took my Staff and hid it somewhere on Earth. I want you, my Last Knight, yo find it for me. It is the only way to bring life back into your shattered world, Optimus."

Prime looked from Quintessa, to the wall, and back again. "The humans have a phrase they tend to use from time to time. I believe it would fit in this situation."

"Oh? And what is this phrase?"

Prime locked optics with his Maker. "Go to Hell."

Quintessa hissed in anger before throwing an energy pulse at the Prime. He dropped to his knees, groaning as pain coursed through his entire being. When he tried to stand back up, he was hit by another pulse. They next second time he tried to get up, there was no pulse thrown at him. Even with his body in great pain now, Optimus Prime stood to his full height with pride. He was showing Quintessa a defiance that would only bring him more torture.

"Infernocus," Quintessa said, optics locked with Optimus. "Lead my creation to the observation room."

The large brute grunted acknowledgment and began tugging on Prime's chain. But Prime tugged back. Infernocus walked up to him and grabbed him by the back of his neck before throwing him to the ground. Prime tried to get to his feet again, but Infernocus was already pulling him up himself.

"Get off me," Optimus demanded. That earned him a punch to the back of the head. Prime's vision blacked out for a moment. Actually, the punch caused him to drop to his knees. He had not even realized until Infernocus was dragging him along by his neck.

The room he was taken to had a large opening that looked out into space. Optimus saw sections of his world, held together with tendrils of metal, floating around the view as the planet _moved_ through space. Cybertron was moving quite slowly though. He even made out the planet they were passing by, and the realization nearly stopped his Spark.

The other planet was the one the humans called Neptune. Cybertron was on course for Earth.

Infernocus latched on a large chain to each of Prime's arms before releasing his previous bindings. The new ones had him hanging over a slight drop. His feet barely touched the platform behind him. Then Quintessa flew into view.

"Are you willing to submit, Optimus?" She asked.

Prime's replied with silence.

"Very well."

Massive amounts of electricity was sent through the chains. Optimus spasmed, his vision flickering the entire time. And then it stopped, leaving him venting hard. Before he had time to recover fully, another surge went through the chains, this time for a longer period of time.

When that shock treatment was done, Quintessa lifted Prime's head with a her finger. "It'll only get worse. You can stop it sooner rather than later, Prime. Are you ready to obey?"

"I'll obey you the day Energon stops flowing through my veins…"

Quintessa sighed. "How disappointing." Then she stuck Optimus across the face. "Infernocus, double the voltage."

Her beast grunted. Prime cried out in pain as more electricity was sent through the chains that held him and into his body. Error messages began to display all over his HUD. Spark temperatures were reaching unsafe levels. Circuitry was in danger of frying. He would sooner die than obey this menace before him. But he did not plan on dying. He would end the life of his Creator before that.

The torture session of Optimus Prime continued for several more hours. More electric shocks. More physical strikes. More threats thrown his way. While the Prime held on to his determination of not letting Quintessa break him, he wasn't sure how much his body could take. He was still mortal. He still felt pain. He was getting weak. Quintessa was relentless. She wanted him to submit as soon as possible.

Quintessa looked Prime over as he hung from his chains. His head was hung low as he vented hard, each vent bringing about a slight wheeze. She turned around to stare out into space.

"Again," she ordered.

Optimus groaned as another electric shock was given. It wasn't enough for Quintessa's liking She ordered the voltage up again to nearly lethal levels. The affect was easily seen as Prime's body convulsed in a more erratic manner than before.

Then the convulsing stopped.

Quintessa whirled around and gestured for Infernocus to halt the shock. She floated over to the now motionless Prime and lifted his head to get a look at his face. His mouth hung open slightly while his optics, while not offline, shone a dull grey color. The sorceress smirked. His body had taken too much in a short amount of time. He was _hers_ now.

She caressed the side of Prime's face, thumb running over the red mark she gave him. The mark became a prominent blood red instead of its previous dull coloration. Her creation lifted his head on his own volition then.

She gave him some space before addressing him.

"You destroyed your world. Do you seek redemption, Optimus Prime?" She asked.

Prime's body began trembling faintly. Gears whirred to life. His battle mask snapped into place. The dull grey of his optics faded into a bright, menacing purple.

"My Maker… I do."

 _ **A/N: And there we have it, ladies and gentlemen or whatever you identify as. I don't discriminate. All are welcomed. Even toaster ovens.**_

 _ **So, in the movie, I felt that Prime was too easily put under Quintessa's command. This chapter I kinda made it seem more realistic in terms of what Optimus would have done. He wouldn't have joined willingly. So, I changed that. I made Quintessa have to work for it. I hoped it turned out okay.**_

 _ **Anyway, if you did enjoy, why don't you leave a follow? Or a favorite. Or a review. You know what, why not all three?**_


	4. Chapter 3 The Hunt

_**A/N: Well, here it is. Chapter 3, technically since the prologue is its own thing. Sorry it took a bit longer than expected. This last week I have just been so tired and lacking in motivation to do… well, anything.**_

 _ **Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It might be a bit boring.**_

...

 _ **Earth—Yeager's Hideout, South Dakota**_

"I'm bouncing a signal through Portugal, Istanbul, and Kathmandu. You got twenty seconds, chief," Hound informed to the inventor.

Cade sat on the edge of the roof and picked up the SAT-Phone. With a breath he put the phone up to his ear. There was the familiar beep, it sounded off twice, before someone picked up.

" _Hello?_ " Cade closed his eyes as he heard the sound of his daughter's voice from the other side. " _Hel— Dad? Look, I know you can't talk to me or say anything back, but you can listen. I'm gonna say what I always say until you hear me: you don't need to save the world. You need a freakin' girlfriend._ " That gave the inventor a bittersweet chuckle. He couldn't even count the amount of time she had told him he needed a girlfriend. " _Wherever you are, I don't want you to die alone, and I know you only got five seconds left, so… I'm fine, I'm safe, and I love—._ "

The line went dead.

Cade threw the phone to the side and ran a hand through his hair.

"Any longer and they would have snagged our location," Hound told him. Before walking off, he added, "You're a helluva father, Cade. Don't you forget it. Hell, my dad never called me."

Cade hated it. He hated not being able to see his daughter, to even talk to her. No, all he could do was listen from the other end of a phone for twenty seconds. The world was shit. He was a fugitive because what? Because the world couldn't pick out the good bots from the bad? Because helping any bots was against the law? It was bullshit.

He headed towards the ladder to get down. He needed to set up things for Bee's operation.

 _ **A few hours later**_

"Okay, watch that wire," Cade instructed Izabella. At the moment, they were both elbow deep in Bumblebee's 'mouth' as they tried to remove his old voice box and install the new one that came when the junker came by. It was slow going, but it was going.

Izabella glared up at the inventor. "I know what I'm doing. Don't rush me."

"Are you always this snippy?"

"Only to impatient old guys who think they know more than me."

Cade scoffed with a slight smile. "Just focus on removing that thing, alright?"

They continued working on on removing the voice box in silence. Then Izabella brought up a topic that was on her mind.

"Hound said you can only listen to her. Your daughter," she began. "Can't talk back."

The inventor paused for a second. He wasn't expecting that, nor did he want to talk about it. "Well, he's gotta big mouth."

"He said that if you do, they can track you here with computers or something."

"Well, that's the world we live in."

Izabella looked down briefly. "What would you say to her?"

With a sigh, he said, "Brush your teeth, work hard, stay away from any boy in a band especially a drummer."

"Yeah, drummers are the worst," the little blue bot named Wheelie, a survivor of the Cairo Incident and the Battle of Chicago, said from atop a workbench. "Not to mention _stupid!_ Now DJs? Real dickheads."

Izabella gave a little laugh before looking at Cade again. "Come on." She knew he wasn't being serious as to what he would say to his daughter.

Seeing as the girl wasn't going to relent, he told her. "Okay, we had a thing, a saying, back and forth. She would always ask me 'Dad, what are you doing tomorrow?' and I would say 'I'll figure it out tomorrow'."

"It looks like your running out of tomorrows, Yeager."

"That's just what she'd say."

Bee's voice box finally came loose.

They slowly slid the busted piece of Cybertronian biotech out, taking care not to damage anything else Bumblebee might need. When it was free completely, Cade and Izabella worked together to lower the new voice box into its slot. Both humans and Autobot tensed up as the final wires wee hooked into place. Upon completion of the job, Cade stepped back. Bumblebee sat up from the metal slab he laid on and flexed his lower 'jaw'.

Wiping his hands with a dirty rag, Cade said, "Alright, Bee. Sit up, buddy. Let's hear it. Your real voice. Feel it out."

" _This is_ _so excit_ _ing_ _,_ " Bee said… but the voice that came out sounded familiar to the computer assistant on Apple phones, Siri. " _Oh, no. This isn't my damn voice._ " Bee slammed a fist into the metal slab. " _This is such bullshit!_ "

Cade shook his head, pissed that the junker, DayTrader, sold them a shitty voice box. "I'm gonna kill him," he said to himself before turning back to Bee. "You know, I'm not giving up! You'll speak with your own voice one day."

" _DayTrader is a punkass bitch!_ " Bumblebee stood up and walked out of the garage, ripping the voice box out and throwing it onto the ground. He transformed and drove off, kicking up a large cloud of brown dust.

"He's right, you know?" Izabella said as both watched as Bumblebee torn around a line of stacked cars.

Cade looked down at her. "That DayTrader is a punkass bitch?"

"Yeah."

"I know."

 _ **Earth—Death Valley**_

Colonel Lennox watched from in front of a row of folding table as a jet streaked across the sky. He knew of no jet on Earth that looked like that. It was who they were waiting for. Megatron had arrived.

" _Scheduled contact is IDed and clear,_ " Lennox heard in his earpiece. A TRF team was hiding nearby, armed and ready should Megatron attack. He watched as Megatron transformed and landed, dropping his two human hostages on the ground. He scared them off before approaching the line of tables.

Lennox turned around and went to open the doors to the SUVs that were parked behind the tables. Lawyers with the TRF and military were there to make sure the deal with Megatron went smoothly. They all had faces of fear as the exited the vehicles, seeing the towering menace marching towards them, his unique sword in hand.

"You know who they always kill first?" Lennox asked the Asian lawyer he opened the door for as she stared at Megatron in fear. "Lawyers."

Lennox went out to meet Megatron as the lawyers took up the seats at the tables, setting up laptops and all. He didn't want to do this. Hated it even. It was a necessary evil. Megatron would lead them to this Staff and then promptly be put down _hard_. But while Lennox wouldn't admit it openly, the Decepticon terrified him. Megatron practically gave off a sense of impending doom. And seeing what the 'Con could do in Mission City, Cairo, and Chicago didn't help lessen that fear.

Megatron stopped before Lennox, pointing his sword at him. "Do I know you, _human_? I want my crew!"

"Give me names!" Lennox shouted. It was right down to business, then.

"Blast Off."

Lennox turned to the lawyers. The talked amongst themselves briefly before one of them nodded. He turned back to Megatron. "Alright. Who else?"

"Hooligan."

One of the lawyers typed on her laptop. "Hooligan, in for… bank robbery. Aggravated assault. Murder. Double murder. _Triple_ murder. Nine dead. Didn't even take the money. No!"

Megatron shouted as he slammed the wide, bladed end of his sword into the ground and pulled it towards him, tearing up the dry and cracked dirt. "What?!"

"Well, uh, I mean we can be flexible," another lawyer stammered out. "We'll issue a GPS tracker. It'll be fine."

Lennox looked back at Megatron for another name.

"Nitro."

"Government requests that he doesn't leave the county," some other lawyer informed. "And we're serious about that."

Lennox gave a half-hearted "okay" to that. Turning back to the Decepticon leader he asked, "Is that all?"

"Two more," Megatron said. "First, Berserker."

Every human gave him a blank look before one lawyer said, "Absolutely not!"

"Nope, no," Lennox said to Megatron. "There are limits! What's your other option?"

Megatron scowled at them all. "Onslaught."

"Eh, let me run that up that flag pole real quick," a lawyer said before pulling out his phone and calling someone. After the call, he held up the phone. "Yes, yes!" All of the lawyers could not have been faster packing up and practically running back into their perceived safety of the SUVs.

"What do you really want, Megatron?" Lennox asked the titan. Megatron had to have some twisted reason for this. The Staff had to be a super weapon or something. He had to have a plan to end Earth. That's what he had always done.

Megatron began attaching his sword to his back. "What anyone wants, human. To go home."

Turning around and walking away, Lennox said, "Yeah, that'll be alright with me too."

 _ **Earth—Several miles outside Yeager's Hideout**_

Megatron looked upon his assembled force. While it was not what he would prefer, it would suffice. The Combaticons most of all. While they could not form Bruticus due to Brawl's death years ago, they were still a force to be reckoned with. They knew their mission. The Combaticons could set out on it on their own without much trouble, but there would still be too large of a margin for error for Megatron's liking. He would lead this mission himself with all of the soldiers he had gathered.

"Lord Megatron," Barricade transformed and bowed before his master. "The TRF have sent the location of Yeager."

The Decepticon leader grinned. "Today we hunt… Decepticons! Transform, and bring me my talisman."

"It's about time," the Decepticon black market dealer, Swindle, said before folding down into his heavily modified dull yellow High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle, commonly called a Humvee by the humans.

The rest of the Decepticons transformed as well. The aerial Combaticons Vortex and Blast Off turned into a faded grey Boeing AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and black Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II fighter jet with purple trim, respectively. The Combaticon leader, Onslaught, had a navy blue with army green trim Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle (MRAP, for short) as his alt-mode. Hooligan, the last remaining member of the Dreads, turned into a rusty Volkswagen Microbus. Nitro, the twin brother of the deceased Shockwave, transformed into a green Saab JAS 39 Gripen.

All Decepticons began their two mile journey to the coordinates of Yeager's hideout. Megatron took the lead as Nitro and Blast Off followed close behind. He would take a wide route towards Yeager's location. There was no use getting there too early and warning the human and Autobots what was happening before all of his force arrived. The talisman was the key to finding the Staff, the key to reviving Cybertron. It had to be his. It had to be Unicron's as well.

 _ **Earth—Yeager's Hideout**_

"What is this?" Cade asked, looking to the ground in disbelief that something like that would be there.

Hound lumbered over to see what the human was going on about. He laughed when he saw what it was. "That's Starscream's head."

"And why is it here? How did it even get here?"

"Crosshairs said DayTrader just left it here when he stopped by the other day. I like it. Woulda loved to been there to see the winged bastard kick the bucket though. What a shame."

Cade rolled his eyes, heading towards the garage. His 'assistance' Jimmy, a dark-skinned kid with glasses, was toying around with a much to heavy alien blaster for him to use. He was about to scold him for messing with it the way he was when the voice of Chief Sherman, the Indian chief that let them stay on his reservation, came through the speakers of the garage.

"Uh, Cade," the chief's voice came through stressed and hurried. "The… thingy, that code… there's a red. A red thingy. Wait, code red! There's somebody coming!"

The inventor rushed outside and looked to the skies. A military drone soared above the junkyard. He wasted no time and ran to the alarm system he installed, slamming his palm on the red button and then rushing to find Jimmy and Izabella.

"We got sixty seconds," he yelled. "We need to evac!"

Finding Jimmy first, Cade hurried about, grabbing anything he could and telling Jimmy to grab as many weapons he could carry. The two rushed over to Cade's modified truck and climbed in. Bee, Crosshairs, and Drift were already transformed. Not Hound though. He was looking through his assortment of weapons, trying to find ones that would do the most damage.

"This'll definitely mess somebody up good," Hound muttered to himself, strapping a quad barreled weapon to his person. "Roll out of here, Cade. I'mma buy ya some time."

"Don't be a hero, Hound," Cade shouted. "We're out of here now!"

"Hell, I was born a hero."

"Wait, wait!" Izabella came running up, her bot Sqweeks right next to her. "You're not leaving me. You leave me, and they take Sqweeks!"

"Leave Sqweeks!" Jimmy shouted, the prospect of being caught putting him under lots of stress. "He's a survivor!"

Cade hopped out of the truck and began lifting Sqweeks into as Izabella got in as well. Once the little blue bot was in, Cade got into the driver seat and floored, the Autobots following right behind. It was just in time, too. The Decepticons had just reached the junkyard, putting them about a minute or so behind the Autobots.

 **...**

Megatron landed between a row of rusted cars. He growled at what he saw. A deserted junkyard. Recently deserted but deserted nonetheless. Yeager could not be that far; the smell of gasoline still hung in the air. So did their fear.

Barricade drove up, transforming with a front flip. "My lord, the Autobots escaped."

"I am quite aware," Megatron snarled.

"Unfortunate," Nitro commented. "I was hoping to bust some heads in."

The Decepticon leader rolled his optics. He was about to order his soldiers to transform and pursue when his pede clanged off something. Kneeling down, he picked up the object: the severed head of his former second-in-command, Starscream.

He lifted the head so it was optic level. It was poetic. After his SIC's failed attempts to terminate him and take control of the Decepticons for his own gain, he was offline and Megatron still stood. Starscream was an arrogant fool who was bested by a mere human boy with a glorified grenade.

"The end is almost near, my old treacherous friend," Megatron said, looking into the dark optics of the head. "What a shame you'll be unable to see it."

Down the row of cars, something burst out from cover, literally. Old cars and scraps of metal were sent flying. Megatron tossed Starscream's head to the side and slid his battle mask into place as one of the Autobots did a roll out of the dust.

"Come get some, ya bitch," the large Autobot yelled before unloading a stream of bullets at him.

Several rounds slammed into Megatron's leg, causing him to lose balance and fall. He recovered quickly and rolled backwards into a crouching position. Powering up his fusion cannon, he sent two shots at the pest. The first missed while the second hit center mass of the Autobot, the force propelling him back into a pile of cars.

"Decepticons! Transform and follow Yeager," Megatron ordered as he turned around.

"Lord Megatron," Onslaught approached. "What about the Autobot?" He pointed over to the large one his leader just shot.

Megatron got closer to the Combaticon leader. "The talisman is of far more importance than terminating one pathetic Autobot. Now transform."

…

" _Cade, we have a problem,_ " Hound radioed in, sounding in slight pain.

He fumbled for the radio and held it up to reply as he continued to drive to the designated location. "What ya got, hound?"

" _It ain't just the TRF. Cade, it's the 'Cons… led by Megatron._ "

"Fuck, he's back?" The Autobots and their remaining human allies had heard of rumors that Megatron had come back, ditching the old Galvatron model he had possessed. It was unsure if the rumors were true, but apparently they were, and Megatron was coming for them. But why?

" _Yeah. He's after you, Cade. He wants that talisman thing you got from that bot._ "

The talisman? What could be special about it? A dying bot gave it to him as a token of thanks for trying to save him. Well, he tried. Cade refused to take it, but the thing somehow managed to end up in his truck anyway. But if Megatron was after it, it had to be important. Shit! Did he even take it?

"Jimmy!" He shouted, startling the young man next to him. "My bag in the back. I need you to check it for the talisman I brought back from the No-Go Zone."

"I— I—," Jimmy stammered. "The what?"

"Circular metal thing with odd markings on it!"

"Alright, alright!" He leaned back and pulled the leather bag and put it on his lap to rummage through. It took only a few moments, but Jimmy pulled out the talisman. "This it?"

Cade glanced over. "Yes! Now put it back in the bag."

The group had arrived at the location. It was the center of an old abandoned town. Perfect for an ambush, especially since Cade and the Autobots rigged a part of the town with explosives a while ago.

"You three," Cade pointed at Jimmy, Izabella, and Sqweeks, "Stay out of sight."

The three Autobots transformed. Bumblebee readied his arm cannon. Before they could continue on, a rapid beeping was coming from Bee's chest plating. Drift took his sword and knocked a small device off of the scout. He held it on his sword for the others to see.

"What's this?" Crosshairs asked, leaning in to get a look. It was obvious what the device was. A tracker. The sharpshooter turned to Bee and jabbed a digit at him. "You led 'em right to us."

Holding his servos up, Bee said, " _I know nothing about that._ "

"Okay, so the TRF must have shot Bee with a tracker," Cade said. "It's done, over. No use getting worked up about it. We still have Decepticons and the TRF coming after us, so get in your hiding spots. Go!"

Cade led Izabella and Jimmy into an old hotel. He ordered the two to sit down while he went off to set up the final wiring for the explosives. The inventor ran down the street with spools of wire. He had to work fast. Megatron would be there any second. Hopefully, he didn't mess up anything setting it up. But when he was done, he ran to the doorway of a shop and aimed a custom alien rifle down the main road.

Engines roared in the distance. First sight was of the flashing lights of a police car. Behind that were several more vehicles. No TRF, though. It was the Decepticons.

"Here they come," he said into the radio. "Autobots, gets ready. Wait for my signal."

The 'Cons transformed, but what caught Cade's attention was Megatron as the Decepticon leader glided to the ground from his jet mode. His new form was a towering menace of metal. Sharp angles all throughout. The red optics seemed to glare at everything around him. And that red mark on his face… it was as if the Devil marked him. However he got his new form, it improved him. Made Megatron more of a threat than before. It terrified Cade. And when Megatron spoke, a chill ran down his spine.

"Search this town. He's here."

A sound of a sheet of metal falling to the ground caused Cade to snap his head to the side. In the center of the road stood Sqweeks, his cover having been blown over. The inventor cursed he saw the blue bot, because Sqweeks did not go unnoticed by the Decepticons as Megatron ordered him to come over to him.

Megatron lifted Sqweeks up by the helm, turning him this way and that. "You have an utterly repulsive scent. Disgusting."

"Hey!"

Cade's heart dropped at the familiar female voice shouting. Looking over, Izabella was running down the street… in clear view of the 'Cons.

"Put him down!" She continued to shout.

"So, this is a human youth. Doesn't look too threatening," the Decepticon that was an F-35 commented.

"Go to Hell," Izabella retorted.

Megatron scoffed. "This planet _IS_ Hell."

A sharp pinch caused Cade to cry out in pain. The talisman had somehow _latched_ on to his upper arm. It caused him to be spotted as Izabella continued her march forward.

"Put him down!" She ordered again. "You think I'm afraid of you? 'Cause I'm not!"

"Hey, stop," Cade called out. Megatron's optics jerked right to him.

"Cade Yeager," he said, tossing Sqweeks to the ground, "I need that talisman."

The inventor was having none of it. He stood up, took aim, and fired at Megatron. The shot hit, causing the 'Con to stumble. Cade took that moment to detonate the explosives before running and pulling Izabella into an alley.

The Decepticons were standing right where all of the explosives were placed. While it wasn't enough to kill any of them, it sure did some damage.

"Are you out of your mind?" Cade scolded the girl as they ran. "You don't do this kamikaze shit! You're not going anywhere with me!"

Despite the distance they were putting between the Decepticons, Cade still heard Megatron issue one order.

"Get those wretched creatures!"

The two humans ran full throttle. The police car was trailing them. Cade took a moment to pop off a shot from his alien pistol before running again. Megatron took pop shot from between the buildings at them. The line of sights were poor on his end, but each shot got closer and closer.

Turning a corner, the humans were greeted by the sight of the massive Grimlock charging down the road in his T-Rex form. The Knight spun, slamming his trail into a much smaller Nitro before clamping his massive jaw down on Hooligan. The Dread struggled, firing at Grimlock's head, but he was quickly offlined as Grimlock tore the Decepticon to pieces in his mouth.

Megatron blasted the broad side of the Knight. Grimlock was knocked back a step. He let out a monstrous roar before transforming. The sound of shifting metal was audible to all. Sections snapped into place loudly. When it was all done, Grimlock slammed his two handed mace into the ground, sending large chucks of asphalt into the air.

And then he spoke. He struggled to get the words out, but he spoke with such a force that the air seemed to tremble. "You messed… with the wrong… knight."

Height difference did not deter the Decepticon leader. He fired more shots at the legendary knight, each one scoring a hit. Grimlock merely shrugged it off and swung at Megatron.

Megatron dodged with a leap backwards. He climbed up top a two story building, taking two more shots at Grimlock that hit the titan in the head. The Knight roared and brought his mace down on the building with an overhead swing, demolishing the structure with ease. Megatron moved out of the way with the use of his thrusters.

Seeing as the Autobots had the current advantage, Megatron ordered his soldiers to retreat. Each Decepticon transformed and followed their leader. The sound of diesel and jet engines echoed all around as the fled. Grimlock, not satified with the fight, roared in frustration before slamming his mace into the ground.

As the other Autobots rejoined the group, Cade and the other humans came out of their hiding spots. The inventor had never seen Grimlock in his bipedal mode. Neither did he hear him speak before. It was honestly frightening in an awing kind of way.

Crosshairs was the first to comment on the Knight. "Well, the big lug transformed again. What was it, like three years? Took ya long enough."

Grimlock glared down at the green Autobot. "Watch… it, mech."

"Holy shit! You can actually talk?! I thought you were too dumb to speak."

That pushed Grimlock's short patience to the end. He lowered himself down and grabbed Crosshairs by the ankle, lifting him into the air.

"Hey, put me down, you bucket of bolts!"

Cade ran up to try to defuse the situation. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Grimlock, no! Put him down now!"

The Knight looked down at the human. Then to Crosshairs. Then back down to Cade. After a brief moment, Grimlock released his hold and let Crosshairs fall to the ground. With a huff, he turned around and transformed.

Cade sighed. That could have ended badly, and it wasn't an ideal time.

"Someone needs to put a leash on that thing," Crosshairs said as he stood up and dusted himself off.

"Well, if you didn't piss him off, that wouldn't have happened," Cade replied.

A mechanical whirring filled the air. Everyone snapped their eyes, or optics, in the direction of the noise. Closing the distance was a swarm of armed TRF drones.

"We gotta move! Izabella, Jimmy, with me. Inside now!"

"Those things are supposed to hunt terrorists, not taxpaying Americans… not that I pay taxes anyway," Jimmy said as he ran after Cade to another old building.

The three humans ran up the stairs. When they reached to the third floor, they stopped. The inventor waited to see if the drones would enter. The sound of machine gun fire and shattering glassed indicated a yes. The drones' whirring was amplified inside.

TRF drones pursued them. Cade took shots at the drones with his rifle when he could as they ran. He led his companions through several rooms and up a few more floors. There was enough distance put between them and the drones that Cade ushered the other two into a large room and told them to hide.

The room was fairly large. A few pillars supported the ceiling. It was filled with debris, overturned beds, and other random items. Actually, it looked to be a hospital room. The three humans each picked a spot and waited.

The wait wasn't long. Three drones flew into the room slowly. Cade held his breath as they began scanning the room. He peered through a ripped sheet handing off the bed he was laying by. The hide wasn't long either. A drone spotted the inventor and opened fire. Cade stood up and brought it down with one shot from his alien pistol. The other drones began to fire.

Jimmy ran up and stood in front of a pillar, hands in the air.

"What the hell are you doing?" Cade asked.

"They use face recognition software," Jimmy explained.

"Are you crazy?!"

"Stay behind me!"

"Don't do this."

"I got this. Stay behind me."

"Jimmy, don't do this."

"It's not even shooting." The young man relaxed as the drone was face-to-face with him. Then metal plating on the drone slid into place.

"Shit!" Cade exclaimed.

There was a loud thump followed by Jimmy flying through the weak wall behind him. Cade pivoted out of cover and shot the drone. He then rushed over to the hole that Jimmy went through. Jimmy was laying on the ground with a few planks of wood on top of him.

"Oh, my God, are you okay?" Cade asked.

The young man coughed and looked at the inventor. "Cade… I just wanna tell you, I love you, man."

Cade stared at him like he was an idiot babbling nonsense. "What?"

"This job wasn't what I thought, but I appreciate everything."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm dying!"

The inventor shook his head, not believing the kid was overreacting like this. "It was only a bean bag, dude."

Jimmy slowly lifted his head and checked his chest. "There's no hole?"

"There's no hole. No blood. No nothing." Jimmy began to gather himself. "Will you get up? Stop acting like a hero!"

"It was a bean bag? That shit hurt like a bullet, man! I felt it go through me!"

"Just come on!"

Cade took his friends down and out the building. On the street, he looked around until he spotted what looked to be a large hotel or business building that had long fell into disrepair. He led the other two into the building.

As they ran through the lobby, Izabella informed them about there being a central drone that leads the rest.

"Okay, we take out the big one, the rest will go with it," Cade told them.

They called the elevator and filed inside. The back of the elevator was glass that allowed a view outside the building. It was when Jimmy exclaimed something about a leprechaun that Cade and Izabella turned around.

Sitting in the corner was a… metal man? No, a small Cybertronian, Cade corrected himself. He had large blue optics and sliver plating with bits of gold.

"Who the hell are you?" Cade asked.

"Leprechauns are tiny, green, and Irish," the mech said in a voice that made him sound like an uptight British butler, "and that is offensive." He noticed Izabella staring at him. "What are you looking at, little girl?"

Cade pushed her behind him. "No, what are you looking at?"

The mech stood. "Hello, Master Cade. I have come to collect you."

"Collect me?" The inventor was not having a good day. His hideout was found. Megatron was after him. And now this butler bot apparently came to get him.

"That is correct."

"No, no, no. You're not collecting shit." Cade went to grab the mech, but he dodged out of the way and began throwing punches at him. "Eh! what's your deal?"

"So you want to play rough, huh?"

The elevator dinged and the doors opened. They were all greeted to a sight of a single TRF drone. The silver mech moved out of the way as the drone flew forward and collided with Cade, taking the inventor out of the glass window of the elevator.

He hung on for dear life as the drone tried to correct it flight but could not with the added weight. His friends shouted from the elevator, but Cade could not hear what was being said over the drone's motor. The thing flew him into the side of buildings. He honestly thought he was going to lose his grip and fall to his death.

The drone finally smashed into the roof of the building next to the one he was in. Sliding down, Cade managed to grab onto a flag pole and dangled over the edge. Another drone came by, firing upon him. He felt something hit his chest, the force causing him to lose his grip and fall a short distance to a lower roof below.

Cade checked the spot where he felt a bullet hit him. All he found was a hole in his shirt and the talisman attached to his upper right chest. The thing somehow moved from his arm to where it was now. If it wasn't for it though, a bullet would have tore through his right lung.

Hearing more drones approaching, Cade got up and ran towards the end of the roof. At the end, he jumped up, using two drones as stepping stones before landing on top of the lead drone. His heart was racing as the lead drone could not support his weight either. The descent to the ground was bouncy, and it hurt when the thing slammed into the ground, but Cade rolled off and sighed in relief. He was alive.

Cade sat up to see the silver mech running towards him.

"Ah! There you are. Good to find you alive. Just like nothing happened," the mech said before pulling out a brush and began dusting Cade off. "Let's make you presentable."

The inventor tried to stop the mech from doing that, but the mech apparently didn't understand the concept of 'stop'.

"Who are you?" He asked when the mech was done.

"I am Cogman, sir. And I am here because of that," Cogman pointed to the ground next to Cade. There sat the talisman. How did that come off? "And that is here because of _you_." Cade picked up the talisman, but tried to shake it off when it began to stick to him and slide up his sleeve. "It will not leave you until you quest is fulfilled. You have been chosen."

Trying to shake the talisman off, Cade looked up at Cogman. "What do you mean chosen?"

"I will explain everything if you come with me."

Walking up behind Cogman was Crosshairs. "I'll swat this metal cockroach for ya, Cade."

Crosshairs when to touch Cogman, but without looking, Cogman grabbed Crosshairs digit and twisted it. Crosshairs fell to the ground, yelling in pain as his digit sparked.

"Don't touch the messenger, or the messenger will kill you." Cogman turned back to Cade. "Now, I'm afraid all this ballyhoo is on your account. If you want to save your friends, you will leave them."

Behind them, Izabella and Jimmy came running around the corner, the former shouting something about the leprechaun.

"And what? Run off with some crazy ninja butler?" Cade asked.

"Your friends will be safe in your absence. In your presence, unsafe. You are more important than you can possible imagine. You are needed, sir. Urgently." Cade stood up. "My master often says that the important decisions in lie often come done to _one moment_."

Staring at the mech, Cade nodded slightly before jogging to meet up with his friends. He made his decision in that moment.

"I have to go with him, but you're going to be alright," he said to Izabella. "You're family now. They'll take care of you, I promise."

"The plane is waiting, sir. We are going to England," Cogman told him.

Nodding, Cade called for Bumblebee. He wanted him with him on this one. Cogman led the way. As he passed by, Bee tapped his at Izabella, a gesture to show that they're together.

Cogman's plane was some old World War II bomber.

"Welcome to Air Folgan," Cogman said over the plane's intercom as they lifted into the air. "Please strap in as turbulence can kill. There will be no snack service on this flight. No drinks. No fun."

Cade scoffed. "Can I even breath?"

"I would prefer if you didn't, but airline rules do not say anything against it."

…

 _ **A/N: So there we have it. Sorry for it seeming like I'm just retelling the movie. Things are gonna change next chapter once Cade gets to the castle.**_

 _ **Also, I changed Dreadbot's name to Hooligan. It sounds better. I added a few more Decepticons. Onslaught is more like his G1 counterpart instead of looking like Long Haul. And I shorted Nitro Zeus's name to just Nitro. Oh, and I gave Grimlock some action.**_

 _ **I hope you liked the characters I added. I looked up vehicles that would look close to their G1 counterparts, but that also fit well with the movie-verse.**_

 _ **Next chapter I plan to have a bit more Prime, a bit of Unicron, and action.**_

 _ **Until then.**_


	5. Chapter 4 Truth

_**A/N: So, I'm finally back with the next chapter! First, I would like to say thanks to all of the reviews and follows and all. Second, I want to address something: Constantly asking when the next chapter will be ready won't make me go faster. It will make me feel rushed and less likely to write.**_

 _ **Anyway, last chapter I said this would be an epic chapter. Unfortunately, when I began writing, the chapter kind of took a more tame path. Next chapter will be big though. Until then, enjoy this nearly 5000 word chapter.**_

 _ **...**_

 _ **Quintessa's Observation Room—Cybertron**_

"My Maker… I do."

Quintessa smiled. She honestly thought the Prime was unbreakable. She feared that if she pushed anymore, that her creation would… expire. But what she had done was enough. Her Last Knight was truly hers again.

The sorceress gave a signal to Infernocus. Prime was then pulled back until his pedes were on solid ground before his chains were released. He fell to his knee-joints, his body still recovering from the electrical torment. After several moment, Prime still had not moved from his spot. It worried the sorceress.

"Prime," Quintessa said to gain his attention.

His helm rose and his optics met Quintessa's, his deep purple optics. "Yes, My Maker?"

"What are your damages?"

"Self-repair systems are currently working on fried circuitry of my CPU. Weapon systems currently offline. Transformation Cog took slight electrical damage. Estimated time for full repair is twelve minutes."

The way Prime spoke was something to take note of. His voice was strained. Not due to pain, though. Prime's mind was fighting her control, unsuccessfully. It did not seem to pose a problem now. Quintessa would deal with it if it did, though. For now, she had to put her plan in motion before Cybertron reached Earth.

"Can you stand?" She asked.

Prime nodded and rose to his pedes. "I await your command."

Quintessa's smile grew. "First, you will need a new name. Optimus was a librarian and a deviant who challenged my rule. From here on out, you shall be known as Nemesis Prime, the Last Knight of Cybertron and servant to me." The goddess flew around him. "Second, what do you know of a being called Unicron?"

"The Chaos Bringer," Nemesis acknowledged. "I read about him in the Iacon Hall of Records. The texts said he was brother to Primus. He sought to bring about darkness to the Universe. Primus fought his brother for eons, the tides turning in favor to the other countless times. It was only when Primus made the original Thirteen Primes that he was finally able to defeat Unicron and cast him out to the stars."

The goddess scoffed. "That's what the fairy tails say." She ran her digits along Nemesis' shoulder-joint. "What if I told you that Unicron was never truly defeated. He may have been cast out, but the Destroyer of Worlds was never truly defeated."

Prime's optics widened. "You mean Unicron still lives?"

"Indeed, my creation. Unicron slumbered in stasis for eons. As he slept, regaining his strength, space debris gathered around him due to gravitational force. More and more debris gathered until the mass grew to the size of a planet. You know this planet quite well, in fact."

"Earth."

"Yes. The home to your precious humans is the sworn enemy of your home. And he's about to awaken."

"Then we must stop him!"

"We shall, Nemesis. I already have a plan. This plan shall also breathe life back into Cybertron."

"How?"

Starting back towards the inner chamber, Quintessa gestured for Nemesis to follow. As expected, he did. He followed his Creator to the large engraved wall. The twelve knights engraved across the center of the wall caught his attention.

Quintessa ran the palm of her servo over one of the knights as she began. "I created the Knights of Cybertron to defend the planet and explore the space beyond Cybertron. First I created twelve of them. Then four more to serve as Vanguard to Cybertron. Then you. Although, somewhere along the line you became a librarian in Iacon. As I was saying. The original twelve sought out to undermine me long before I could properly complete you. They even brought the Vanguards to the side. They attacked me. Stole away from me my very own Staff."

Prime looked to Quintessa. "What was important about your Staff?"

"I'm glad you asked. My Staff amplified my abilities a thousand fold. It allowed me to do things I could not do alone. The Twelve wanted that power for themselves, so they stole it. I was left weakened and without my Staff, I could not complete you in time to go after them. It was years before I was able to finish you, but it was too late. The Twelve had escaped, eventually giving the Staff to your humans, so I set you free onto Cybertron as Orion Pax. The same one who went from librarian to Prime. The same one who caused the death of Cybertron." Nemesis nearly recoiled physically at the last bit. "So you say you seek redemption, Prime? This is how you do it. Go to Earth, retrieve my Staff, and gain your redemption. With my Staff, I will drain the Earth's core, Unicron's Spark, and use its energy to restore Cybertron. This is my mission to you, Nemesis Prime. Do you understand what it means?"

Nemesis looked down and blinked a few times before looking back up with a determined expression. "I do. If Earth has to die for Cybertron to live, so be it."

Quintessa waved her servos around. Prime's shield and sword glided through the air to their owner. He took the shield in hand and placed the blade on his backplates.

"Then go," Quintessa ordered. "Go and bring me what was stolen. Do not fret about searching long. I believe the humans will lead you to it."

She watched as her creation turned around and jogged out of the chamber. The sound of his thrusters activating could be heard. Quintessa moved back into the observation room and watched as Nemesis Prime soared through space towards the green and blue planet.

 _ **South Dakota, USA**_

Commander Santos stared at the fiery wreckage of armored SUVs. That alien surprised them. The ones that turned into damn dinosaurs. The ones the TRF barely had an intel on since their appearance at Hong Kong. Burst right out of the ground and crushed the vehicles filled with _his men_. Count was at a dozen dead with several severely injured. And the Colonel wanted to go easy. You don't got easy with those things. The only thing you could do was take them down _hard_. All of them.

Footsteps approached from behind. Santos knew who it was, so he whirled around to face Lennox.

"Those were my men," he said angrily, jabbing a finger in the direction of the carnage. "You think they aren't all the same still?"

"I told you that they will defend themselves if they were cornered," Lennox retorted. His expression softened. "I'm sorry about your men. They were okay guys."

"Save your sorry for someone who cares what comes from your mouth." Santos walked pass Lennox, knocking his shoulder into the other man's.

The death of several his men wasn't the only thing bad that happened today. Yeager escaped. After he took out the main drone, Santos had to rely on scouts to tell him what was going on. Apparently a human sized bot came and took Yeager and the yellow alien in an old World War Two bomber and flew off. The other aliens and fugitives were gone with the wind as well, last seen heading south. TRF's best option was rely on the trackers on the aliens Barricade and Megatron.

"Adams, bring up global tracking," Santos ordered, coming around to the back of one of the TRF's SUVs. A series of monitors and computer equipment was set up. Some was used for drone control… well, before Yeager took them out.

"Uh, sir," the computer tech Adams began with an uneasy tone. "I don't think that will be necessary."

"Why is that?"

Adams pointed to the skies to the east. "That's why."

Santos followed with his eyes to see a jet far in the distance but approaching fast. Even from this distance, he could tell that it wasn't of human origin.

The TRF commander pressed a finger to his earpiece to contact all TRF in the area. "Be advised! NBE-One is en route. Do not fire unless instructed to, but be on alert."

As Santos watched Megatron approach, Lennox hurried to his side just as two more jets streaked overhead and fell into formation behind the Decepticon leader.

"Let me handle this," Lennox said.

"Yeah, because everything you've done so far has been helpful," Santos bit back.

Besides rolling his eyes, Lennox didn't respond.

Megatron nosedived, transforming moments before colliding with the ground and sliding across the asphalt. He observed all the human soldiers around him. Each one pointed a rifle in his direction. They became visibly more uneasy once Nitro and Blast Off landed beside him. Good. These humans feared them as they should, even if they tried to hide it behind training and experience.

"Aw, look," Nitro commented. "They think they look threatening. How cute?"

"Quiet," Megatron ordered as he walked forward to meet Lennox. When he got within hearing distance, he glowered down at the Colonel. "Things did not go as planned, human."

"So you didn't get what you wanted?" Lennox asked, a hint of smugness finding its way into his voice.

"No. Cade Yeager had the assistance of a Knight. I pulled back before my soldiers could be overpowered. I had not anticipated that."

"A Knight?" Santos questioned.

"You know very little of my planet's history, human," Megatron scowled. "Not that your tiny, insignificant mind could handle it all if you were told anyway."

Santos was about to say something back when Lennox cut in. "Why are you here, Megatron?"

"Last trajectory of Yeager put him flying to the country you call England. Not all of my soldiers possess the ability of flight. I require the use of one of your larger human aircraft to transport them over."

Lennox narrowed his eyes. "And why should I allow that?"

"The sooner I can take what's mine, the sooner I can leave this wretched planet. I need my soldiers to assure that. So, you will make it happen."

Lennox had a brief stare down with the Decepticon before finally nodding. "Fine. I'll arrange transport."

The Decepticon leader left it at that. He turned to his two soldiers. "Decepticons, follow." Megatron jumped into the air, twisting as sections of armor began to shift and move. Before the TRF could properly tell, Megatron was blasting into the air at max speeds. Nitro and Blast Off followed suit.

Once away from the humans, Megatron addressed him followers. "Continue to England. I have business to attend to elsewhere. Await my return."

He did not wait for a response. He simply veered away from the other two Decepticons and flew into another direction at mach six.

 _ **Namibia, Location of one of Unicron's Horns**_

Megatron landed at the base of one of the massive Horns that had pierced through the earth around the world. He did not require to say anything or activate anything. The Decepticon warlord merely walked forward and a passage opened up for him.

It was as he remembered the last time he was inside one of the Horns. A criss-cross of metal beams made of the same black metal that the Horns were comprised of. Then there was the aura of the place. It was… dark. Not in terms of lighting, his optics could adjust for that, but of the general feel of it all. It felt unnatural. But there was also the promise of something powerful. Something he wanted.

He came upon a deep drop at the end of the passage. Seeing no other place to go, Megatron stepped over the edge and let himself take the several second fall to the bottom. There was a resounding clang as he landed in a crouch at the bottom. Standing again, he found himself in a chamber similar to the one he came across years ago.

"Unicron," Megatron called out.

From the center of the chamber, shards of metal began to rise and take shape. They climbed to a towering height, double that of Megatron's. Seconds later, the avatar of Unicron opened its optics.

" **Megatron** ," Unicron stated. " **I do not remember summoning you. This best be important**."

Megatron stepped forward. "It is, my lord. I am close to retrieving a talisman that will reveal the location of the Staff of which you seek. I came here to inform you that the next time we meet, I will possess Quintessa's Staff. You will be free of this prison, and I will return to a rejuvenated Cybertron."

Unicron did not speak immediately after. He held Megatron in a scrutinizing gaze before saying, " **You hold such arrogance.** " Megatron optics widened at the comment. He went to reply but the Chaos Bringer continued. " **You see us as equals. You are nothing compared to me. A bug in the presence of a god. Remember, if I wish Cybertron destroyed utterly, it will be. If I wish this planet to die, it will. If I wish to obliterate you, I will!** "

Megatron scowled. No one talked to the Champion of the Pits like that. Well, anyone who did was no longer living. But this was Unicron. He could not simply kill him. He was a god.

" **But while you speak of the Staff, you haven't mention the Matrix** ," Unicron pointed out.

"I plan to use the Staff as bait for Optimus," Megatron explained.

The Chaos Bringer went to speak again but stopped. He closed his optics and looked to the ceiling. A long sigh came from him. " **It grows ever closer. The last Prime is almost near. Go. Reach the Staff before he does. Or I will find someone more competent to do so**."

Megatron narrowed his optics but said nothing. He turned around and transformed, flying up the tunnel he dropped from. Not stopping, he turned and flew down the passage and out of the horn. England awaited him. The talisman would be his. The Staff would then be _his_. Unicron would have nothing then. Yes… once he knew how to use the Staff, Megatron's options would be endless.

 _ **Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota**_

Lennox had just got authorization from General Morshower to give the Decepticons transport to England in a C-17. He didn't like it though. Didn't like working with Megatron like this. But he had to. They needed to secure whatever he was after. At least it was nighttime and the base was quiet save for the plane, a group of rowdy 'Cons, and a larger group of cautious TRF soldiers.

"You're just gonna give them whatever they want, huh?" Santos said as he walked up to the Colonel.

Due to being slightly taller, Lennox looked down at the TRF commander. "My orders are to assist Megatron until he finds what he wants. Then I'm going to put him down. If you got a problem with that, take it up with General Morshower. If you don't want to do that, shut your mouth and stop complaining. I don't like this deal anymore than you do."

The quick wail of sirens caused both men to turn and look at it's source. The only custom Ford Mustang Saleen police car they knew of pulled up and transformed into the Decepticon Barricade.

"What?" Lennox asked simply.

Barricade narrowed his optics at the human's curt question. "The moment we get into the aircraft, I want it airborne. I do not wish to waste time."

"Oh, trust me, the sooner you leave, the better."

The Decepticon enforcer huffed but said nothing more before transforming and driving off.

"I think we can agree on one thing," Santos said, watching Barricade approach the ramp of the plane.

"That one is a dick," Lennox said without missing a beat.

"Uh-huh."

 _ **Edmund Burton's Mansion, England**_

To say the flight was uncomfortable would have been an understatement. It was hot. It was cramped. No bathroom on board to use. Nothing to eat or drink. The pilot was some ninja robot butler from Hell. To top it all off, the plane felt like it was going to fall apart at any moment. Cade would have listed it very low on his list of favorable experiences.

Anyway, the robot butler named Cogman led him and Bumblebee up the driveway to a castle-looking mansion. The thing looked like it was pulled straight out of some King Arthur story. The walls were spotted with moss and vines. It just held the vibe of being old yet sturdy. And at the end of the driveway was an older gentleman and a… reddish-orange Mark IV World War One tank.

"I hope you had a nice flight," the old man said when the trio finally made it.

"It was the worst flight of my life," Cade said dryly. "Now would you mind explaining to me as to why psycho ninja here," he jabbed a thumb at Cogman, "just flew me halfway across the world saying that I'm needed and stuff?"

The tank that stood behind the old man began to move. It rolled a few feet before the metal plating began sliding and shifting. Moments later, a Cybertronian with a blue visor instead of optics stood with the main cannon and two side cannons of his alt-mode forming a triangle in the center of his chest.

"Bumblebee!" He announced loudly in a gruff voice (not British sounding at all), spreading his servos out. He walked up and gave the Autobot scout a crushing hug. "I haven't seen ya since the general evacuation from Cybertron! How have ya been, buddy?" The mech lead Bee off to the side.

Cade looked back to the old man. "You're running some kind of bot sanctuary, huh?"

The old man nodded. "Precisely so. Once the TRF was established, I got out word that here would be safe harbor. I have all those that arrive hide as older vehicles; it lets me claim they are part of my collection. Unfortunately, only four besides Cogman have come. Warpath," he gestured to the mech, "is our most recent arrival." He shook his head. "Anyway, I believe we got off topic. You wish to know why you're here."

Cade nodded. "Uh, yeah. If I don't get answers soon, I'm walking."

"But you wanna know, don't you? Why you," the old man moved Cade's sleeve up with his cane to reveal the talisman latched onto Cade's upper arm, "and that are so important?"

The whine of a sports car engine echoed around them, getting louder as it approached from the driveway.

"Ah," the old man said. "I do so love perfect timing."

A Lamborghini Aventador stopped a ways down the driveway. The good opened up and shot out a woman. The Aventador began to transform in a break dance style into a black and orange mech. Cade looked on with amusement as the woman freaked out, even using a golf club as a weapon.

"So, is this a kidnapping in progress or her first Transformers experience?" Cade asked.

After a slight pause, the old man replied with, "It's both, really."

Both men and three mechs watched in amusement as the black and orange mech tried to calm the woman. She even hit his servo with the golf club, breaking the club in half. When the woman fell backwards and rolled down the little hill by the driveway, the mech gave a shrug to the others.

"She is very difficult," the mech said in a heavy French accent.

"Well," the old man turned to face Cade, "how about we go inside? Proper introductions can be made then. I'll have Cogman escort you to your room. There are clothes there. The ones you currently wear seem to have seen better days."

Taking a glance at the holes torn through his shirt, Cade responded with a simple, "Uh-huh."

The old man gave Cogman the order to take the inventor to his room while he tried to calm their new arrival. As Cade walked through the mansion, his eyes were drawn to all sorts of things. A set of medieval knight armor (big surprise there, being in England in a castle). Some portraits. A vase or two. But the deeper he walked into the place, the more he noticed some items. One such item was a bust of a knight only this one looked strikingly similar to the statues he saw on Lockdown's ship a few years prior. Then Cade saw some paintings. He knew what they were of without a doubt.

Transformers.

Cade was about to ask about them when Cogman stopped by a door.

"Here is your room, sir," the robot servant said hurriedly. "Now, please enter, get changed, then report to the room at the end of the hall swiftly." He then turned and walked down the hall.

Rolling his eyes, Cade did just that. He went in, changed out of his dirty and torn clothing and into the clean set left on the bed for him, then began towards the room indicated. Cade took his time though. He examined a few paintings on the wall. One was from about the World War One era. Another was from medieval times. Each one had a Transformer in it.

Upon entering the room, Cade saw the old man already in there by an open window near the corner. Cogman was setting out cups for tea.

"Ah, Cade," the old man acknowledged his appearance. "Have a seat. We'll have proper introductions when Vivian arrives."

Simply nodding, Cade sat down in the closest chair. Cogman came by and began filling up a cup for him.

Moments later, Cade heard the telltale sound of high heels tapping rhythmically on hardwood floor. The sight of the end of a black dress caused him to look up. He blinked, eyes widening as if he was just taken by surprise by someone slapping him. The woman who had just been freaking out nearly half an hour ago was now calm and composed. A stylish black dress that outline the curves of her body tastefully.

"Hey, what's up?" Was the first thing Cade said. All he got was a look that easily read as 'oh, please'.

"Since everyone is now here, I believe introductions are finally in order," the old man said. "I am Edmund Burton. Twelfth Earl of Folgan and last surviving member of the Order of Witwitcans."

From the open window, the black and orange mech poked his helm into the room.

That gained the attention of Vivian who asked, "Must he loom like that?"

" _Bonjour, cheri_ ," the mech said in French. " _Je m'appel,_ Hot Rod."

Due to his accent, Vivian could not understand what he said "Ot what?"

"Hot Rod."

"Ut Rut?"

"Hot Rod!"

Burton stepped in to clarify. "Hot. Rod." The mech nodded. "It's his French accent."

"Is he French?" She asked.

"No, he just likes the accent."

"No!" Hot Rod exclaimed. "No, no, no, no. I hate the accent! But I can't get rid of it. I am stuck with accent!"

"He's a soldier, Miss Vivian," Burton explained. "He swore an oath to your father to protect you."

"Oh," was all Vivian could respond with.

"Some dad you got there," Cade commented. "That's a nice ride. I mean, you could ride up to Buckingham Palace in that thing."

Vivian looked at Cade. "Okay. You. American man. Shut it." Then she looked to Burton. "What am I doing here?"

"Yeah, why is she here?" Cade asked in turn.

"Introduction," Burton said. "Miss Vivian Wembly: Master of History, Oxford; Doctor of Philosophy, also Oxford; and Doctor of Letters, Oxford again, I think. Anything else? Anyway, meet Cade."

Cade waited a moment for Burton to continue, but when he didn't he took it upon himself to do so. "Yeager. Cade Yeager. I'm an inventor."

"Oh?" Vivian sounded surprised. "You're an inventor?"

"Yes, I am."

"What have you invented?"

"A lot of things."

"Like?"

"Like a lot of this. Like things that you've heard of."

Vivian repeated her previous question.

"Well, things that you will have heard of. Patents are pending."

"Ah." Vivian simply responded with.

Cade looked at her. "'Ah'? What's 'ah'? You know I can do that to: 'ah, I'm English and I'm too cool for feelings." He looked to Burton. "What did I come here to be insulted by some over-educated Ivy tower princess in a stripper dress?"

The expression on Burton's face was highly amused. "Stripper?"

Vivian herself was also amused. "Only in America is a finer education an insult. And if my dress is making you uncomfortable, then maybe I could take it off."

After that last comment, Cade mindlessly nodded. "Okay."

On the other side of the room, Cogman's right optic twitched. He jumped over the table and leaped on Cade, knock the chair he was in onto the ground. Cogman began choking Cade.

"Shall I take his head off, madam?" He asked.

"Tempting," Vivian said in amusement, "but I can defend my own honour."

"Oh, but I do so want to crush his windpipe!"

"I told you, Cogman, you need to learn to control that impulse," Burton said. "Channel it into other things."

At last, Cogman released Cade, who began taking in large gulps of air. "Yes, my lord. Like making beds. Or cooking food. Or polishing the silver." Cogman bent down and lifted Cade's chair back up into the correct position. "I am trying, my lord."

Before things went astray anymore, Burton led everyone into another room. It was a dining room. On the walls held paintings. Burton explained they were his predecessors. All Folgans. The next room that he led them into was quite the show.

Paintings and statues all over. Cade saw more transformers in paintings and pictures. Burton began listing off people who were part of the Witwitcans. Some small statues were of transformers. Burton even kept one that turned onto a watch in a bulletproof case. He said the thing killed Hitler.

But all of those people Burton listed all kept the secret of the transformers on Earth. It honestly blew Cade's mind. Burton even had a Witwitcan family tree that spanned back over forty generations all the way back to Merlin the fairy tale wizard. Even Vivian's father was a member.

"See, it all began in 480 A.D. when King Arthur and his wizard Merlin stared down and vanquished the Saxon hordes at Monbadon," Burton told them. He then pointed to a set of weapons on a table. "Those are his sword and mace there." He led then outside.

"It's a myth," Vivian said.

"And every myth, every legend, every story whispered around a campfire has a logical explanation."

"And I whole-heartedly agree with that, but logic left the building. You're talking about magic."

Cade scoffed. "What, like your walking, talking Lamborghini? Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

Vivian turned around to face him. "Arthur C. Clark. Impressive."

Burton continued to lead the two other humans to a sort of church-like building. Inside, the ceiling was high up. The windows were high up. It held an air of importance. And in the center of the building was a uniquely crafted table.

"Now this place was built around the original Round Table," Burton said. "Percival. Gawain. Lancelot. They all sat here. Twelve in all. And behind then were the Twelve that came from Cybertron. Twelve alien knights who saw in Camelot what the human race could be at its finest. A race of honor." Burton ran his hand over a piece of armor on a chair. "This belonged to Arthur himself. Legend says, in time of great peril for the human race, the last worthy, direct descendant of King Arthur would be found.

Cade, I do believe you are Arthur's last living male descendant."

…

 _ **A/N: How about that, huh? A bit of a change from the movie. I added a new character, Warpath. I made Cade the last descendant of Arthur instead of the Last Knight. Optimus is the Last Knight, as said by Quintessa towards the beginning of this chapter.**_

 _ **Next chapter is gonna hopefully epic as it's been in my head.**_

 _ **Anyway, if you enjoyed, follow and favorite my story. Leave a review too. Let me know how I'm doing on the story and if there is anything I could do differently.**_


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